c. 1999 Religion News Service
Amish leaving the buggy behind for safety’s sake
(RNS) Annie Keim doesn’t much like riding the family’s horse-drawn buggy to Medina, Ohio, because of the traffic on the county’s increasingly congested roads.”Most of the roads are busier than they were,”said Keim, an Amish woman who lives with her family near Homerville, Ohio.
Keim said rural Homer Township’s substantial Amish community will probably appreciate an experimental bus route the county is starting to help the automobile-shunning people get back and forth to the city without taking risky buggy rides.
John Jones, director of the Medina County Transportation Department, said Amish leaders asked the county to establish the bus route. Jones said the Amish leaders told him they don’t own gasoline-powered vehicles but will use conventional public transportation.
He said traffic has increased so much in the county in recent years that it’s difficult for the Amish buggies to travel anywhere beyond the most rural areas. The 16-seat bus will travel the same route through Homer Township every Friday and then head north to Medina but will not have regular stops. People wanting to ride the bus will stand along the route and hail it as it approaches. The bus will return to Homer Township later in the day.
Although Amish community leaders requested the bus, Jones said it would be available to anybody _ Amish or not _ who wants to ride it.
The fixed-route bus replaces what’s known as the county’s”demand response”system, in which people request rides from the Transportation Department. A bus then picks up the rider at home, offering direct, customized service to his or her destination.
Jones said because many Amish don’t have telephones, it was difficult for them to efficiently request the service. Many Amish would mail requests for bus service, but sometimes those requests would arrive too late to accommodate them, he said.
Mormon Church’s vast genealogical storehouse goes online
(RNS) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially put a portion of its enormous genealogical database on the Internet Monday.
Almost 400 million names of deceased people will be available at the http://www.FamilySearch.org site. They are part of the church’s Family History Library, the world’s largest genealogical repository, located in Salt Lake City.
An eight-week test of the site already has produced more than 200 million hits.
The Mormon Church, which views tracing of ancestors as a religious obligation, said that more names will be available at a later date.
The FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service includes a search engine that seeks specific names and relationships, online access to the library’s catalog, and the possibility of sharing research with others looking into the same family lines. The service can search for surnames on thousands of smaller genealogical Web sites that already are on the Internet and have been evaluated by church volunteers.
Mormons believe it is important to perform religious rites on behalf of dead ancestors. They have gathered records for more than a century.”We believe that family relationships can be eternal and by searching out our ancestors we can begin to better understand who we are and what we may become,”said Elder D. Todd Christofferson, executive director of the church’s Familly History Department.
Bioethics panel to recommend some embryonic research
(RNS) The National Bioethics Advisory Commission plans to recommend that parts of a ban on the use of federal money for embryonic research be lifted.
The commission, President Clinton’s top advisory panel on medical ethics, included the recommendation in a new draft of a report that members acknowledge will prompt controversy because the research involves the destruction of embryos.
But commission members think the potential for improving people’s health merits such a move.”This research is allied with a noble cause, and any taint that might attach from the source of the stem cells diminishes in proportion to the potential good which the research may yield,”the report states.
The commission suggests a series of tightly controlled experiments to obtain”stem cells”from embryos that remain from procedures at fertility clinics. Such embryos would be used only if the parents from whom the embryos were created consented, the Associated Press reported.
In recent years, stem cells have been shown to be a source of development for almost all human tissue. Scientists say because the cells are capable of being grown into virtually any tissue, they could lead to the development of spare body parts or the correcting of illnesses such as diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.
Critics voiced opposition to the proposed recommendation.
Janet Parshall, chief spokeswoman for the Family Research Council, said it is”a classic example of situational ethics.””I think it’s the worst kind of utilitarianism … to say we will destroy these so those can live,”she said.”One would only hope that common sense and compassion would rule the day rather than scientific advancement.” Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, agreed.”There are not two classes of human beings,”she said.”The embryo baby is no different than any other human being and should never be subjected to destructive research.” The bioethics commission’s recommendation is expected to be officially announced in June.
Pope focuses on Balkans crisis with concern for refugees, peace
(RNS) Pope John Paul II kept his eyes focused on the Balkans crisis throughout the weekend, praising Macedonia for giving sanctuary to refugees and calling for prayers for peace at next week’s Corpus Domini feast day Mass.
And Vatican Radio announced Monday (May 24) it will transmit a special hourlong program to the Balkans in Albanian and Italian to provide information about the church’s”humanitarian and religious”aid to the hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo in Albania and Macedonia.
On Saturday, the pope met with Prime Minister Lubco Georgevski of Macedonia and an official Macedonian delegation and on Monday with Prime Minister Ivan Kostov of Bulgaria at a private audience.
Both Balkan leaders came to Rome for celebrations in honor of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the ninth century missionaries known as”apostles to the Slavs,”but the conflict over Kosovo dominated their visit.
The Roman Catholic pontiff offered praise to the Macedonians for taking in refugees ejected from their homes in the predominantly Albanian province of Yugoslavia by Serb forces and renewed his oft-repeated appeal for peace. Macedonia is the poorest of the states that formerly made up Yugoslavia and is concerned about the threat posed by the refugees to its delicate ethnic balance.”For many weeks now, you and your people have been caught up in the terrible crisis which day after day is bringing untold suffering, death and destruction to the Balkans, leaving hundreds of thousands of human beings mourning the loss of their family members, their property and their basic human rights,”the pope said.”Despite the enormous difficulties involved, your own country has become a haven of safety for many refugees and you are bravely and generously trying to alleviate their immediate distress and misery,”he said.
In his remarks John Paul also again appealed”with all my heart to those responsible to bring an end to the violence and to engage in an open and sincere dialogue aimed at creating a just and lasting basis for agreement and peace.” Later Saturday John Paul invited all of Rome’s clergy, religious and faithful to join him at a Corpus Domini Mass and procession at the Basilica of St. John Lateran”in which we will together implore the gift of peace in the Balkans.”The feast of Corpus et Sanguis Domini (the Body and Blood of the Lord) honors what Catholics believe is the”real presence”of Christ in the Eucharist.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, director of programming for Vatican Radio, said both the Vatican Secretariat of State and the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples backed the new broadcast. The council will issue a statement Tuesday (May 25) on the plight of refugees and other homeless people worldwide.
Lombardi said the Monday night broadcast would try to contribute to the”support, encouragement, liaison and coordination”of efforts to aid the Kosovar refugees.
Update: Florida school board to appeal court ban on student prayers
(RNS) A Florida school board has voted to appeal a court decision overturning its policy allowing student-approved prayers at high school graduation ceremonies.
The Duval County School Board voted 4-3 to seek a hearing before the entire 12-member 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the Atlanta-based court refuses to hear the case or rules against the district, the board intends to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Associated Press reported.
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 on May 11 that the policy permitting student-generated graduation messages that could include prayer was unconstitutional.
The panel said graduating students who object to the prayers have no alternative to attendance at the graduation and the ceremonies are still governed by the schools.
More than 300 people jammed the school board’s meeting May 18 to encourage an appeal. Sixty of the 65 people who spoke were in favor of appealing. Five said the policy made non-Christian students feel alienated and urged the board to stop the litigation.
The appeal will come after graduation ceremonies are held this year.”Graduation is the biggest step I’ve ever taken, and I wanted to thank God for getting me through life,”said Caroline Weldner, a senior at Mandarin High School.”We are not trying to enforce religion, but for those of us who want this prayer it has a lot of meaning.”
Quote of the day: the Rev. Martha Wright
(RNS)”What he did was wrong, but him being wrong doesn’t mean he is bad or devoid of good.” _ The Rev. Martha Wright, a United Methodist minister in Conyers, Ga., speaking in a sermon Sunday (May 23) about shooter T.J. Solomon, who wounded six students at Heritage High School.
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